Wednesday, December 9, 2015

The Holy Grail of Theatrical Acrobatics: Three Excerpts

[post 410]

When I taught my first physical comedy workshop more than three decades ago, I called it "theatrical acrobatics," by which I meant adapting and disguising acrobatic vocabulary in order to make it work believably for a character in a comic situation. Everything had to have cause and effect and look natural, not gymnastic. You could learn a lot from silent film comedy, circus clowning, contact improv, Pilobolus, and stage combat, but precious little of it was written down.

Then one day in a dusty second-hand bookstore on Manhattan's 4th Avenue, I stumbled across Tumbling Illustrated from 1932, which looked like another one of those not particularly useful old-timey gymnastic books with stick figures and scant explanations of complicated tricks. (My copy had been discarded by the Oakland Public Schools.) But this one was different, because its author, L.L. McClow, must have spent considerable time on or very near the vaudeville stage. In its pages were countless falls, partner moves, and tricks with furniture and props. There's even a "Clowns" chapter, whose subheadings are:
• Without Apparatus
• Chairs
• Tables
• Barrels
• Miscellaneous
• Combinations

Not all the material's great and the instructions are often sketchy or non-existent, but there's much food for thought. And a move that might not look like much can actually be a gem —in the right hands (or in this case legs). Admit it, if you read this one, you wouldn't be impressed:

But here's Lupino Lane doing it:

Another example: I never realized a forward roll with a chair was possible until I saw this:

Although I did learn to do the back roll with the chair, I couldn't do this forward one. Even at that age my hips were just too tight for the follow-through. (No front straddle rolls for me!) But a forward roll taking the chair with you is actually not so hard, and in a typical physical comedy class I teach, about 25% of the students are limber enough to do it.

Before I saw my first table act, the Gaspards, I read about the peanut roll on and off the table in McClow:

And though I learned the handspring into the chair, I never tried this one (not yet, that is!).

Well, you get the point. I've scanned three of the prime chapters for you —Groups, Clowns, and Novelties. Don't try this stuff at home! (Unless of course you want to.)

Chapter 8 — Groups

Chapter 9 — Clowns

Chapter 10 — Novelties

WARNING: There is a 2012 reprint of this book available on Amazon, but it's only 88 pages, not 212. Only buy the 1931/1932 edition!

2 comments:

I love the Lupino Lane example, because it's true: so much of this stuff appears lame on the page but can be magic on the stage -- that certainly is the case with card tricks too, for example.

I didn't know this book until seeing this entry, though I've probably been handed many xeroxed pages over the years (well, years ago). My go-to acro bible has been the 1943 "Gymnastics and Tumbling" by the US Navy Institute (my copy is the Arco 1973 Third Edition). Not stick figures but lots of photographs, with some mighty silly expressions on these Navy faces!

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An Introduction...

[So this is what I wrote six years ago; more or less true!]

Ring around a rosie, a pocket full of posiesAshes, Ashes, we all fall down

Welcome to the All Fall Down blog, an exploration of all aspects of physical comedy, from the historical to the latest work in the field, from the one-man show to the digital composite, from the conceptual to the nuts & bolts how-to. Be prepared for a broad definition of physical comedy (mine!) and a wide variety of approaches. Physical comedy is a visual art form, so there’ll be tons of pictures and videos, but also some substantial writing and research, including scripts and probably even some books.

This blog is a result of me wanting to follow through on lots of unfinished research from the past 25 years. It’s made possible by a full-year sabbatical leave from Bloomfield College that will take me through August 2010. It’s also made more practical by the ease of Web 2.0 tools for managing and distributing content. I had envisioned a web site similar to this blog more than a decade ago, but never got too far with it because it was simply a lot more work. Now, no more excuses!

Just as this blog will be sharing lots of goodies with you free of charge, I hope you will share your knowledge and ideas with me. Feel free to comment on any of it, or to write me directly with your suggestions. Admittedly I don’t see this as a free-for-all forum on the subject of physical comedy. It’s my blog, I’m the filter, and it won’t be all things to all people. That being said, I hope it will bring together insights, information, and people, and encourage others to make their own singular contributions to the field.

I hope to be adding substantial and varied material to the blog on a regular basis, so check back often and be sure to check out previous posts. And finally, a thanks to all of you, past present, and future whose work contributes to our knowledge — and our fun. We are truly standing on the shoulders of giants.

— John TowsenNew York CItyMay, 2009

My Physical Comedy Qualifications

So if you don’t blink, you can see me doing a pratfall on the original 1957 CBS production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella(starring Julie Andrews, directed by Ralph Nelson, stage managed by Joseph Papp).

My Favorite PostsOkay, there are literally thousands of physical comedy blogs out there, but only one physical comedy blogopedia. Why list my favorite posts? Because I want to draw attention to my best research and writing, to posts that make the strongest connections between old and new, between theory and practice, between ha-ha funny and broader global issues. If I die tomorrow, which is impossible because it's already the day after tomorrow in Australia, these are the ones I would like read aloud at my funeral, with high-rez projection of all videos. (Is it bad luck to write that?) Also, please mention that I never voted for a Republican. —jt

Here are some useful and fun blogs and web sites that touch on the whole field of physical comedy, rather than just sites by performers about themselves (not that there's anything wrong with that). Click away!

For the latest posts from these blogs, see below. (Blogs only; not web sites.) These are automatically sequenced by Google in order of most current posts. The blog at the top of the list is the blog with the most recent post. Since the whole idea is to keep you (and me) up to date on current posts in the field, blogs that have not been posting regularly have been dropped from the list; if you've been dropped but are now posting regularly, just let me know.

Here's a list of complete books available for free as pdf documents right here on this here blogopedia, arranged in chronological order; dates are publication in the original language. Clickhere for a Tech Note on these books. Click on the book title to go to that post. More books coming!